Indians Work Hardest, Happy with 5-day Workweek: Study

Mumbai, Sep 12: India leads the way as the hardest working country with 69 per cent of full-time employees saying they would work five days a week even if they had the option to work fewer days for the same pay, according to a survey. Mexico was the second-highest at 43 per cent of workers, followed by the US at 27 per cent, according to the culture study survey by US-based multi-national workforce management firm Kronos Incorporated.

The UK (16 per cent), France (17 per cent) and Australia (19 per cent) are the least content with the standard five-day workweek, it added. If pay remained constant, one-third of global workers felt their ideal workweek would last four days (34 per cent), while 20 per cent said they would work three days a week, the survey said. While one in four global employees (28 per cent) are content with the standard five-day workweek, it added.

For this survey research was conducted by Future Workplace on behalf of Kronos Incorporated between July 31 August 9, 2018, among 2,772 employees. It surveyed full and part-time employees living in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the UK and the US. Meanwhile, the survey found that one-third of employees (35 per cent) would take a 20 per cent pay-cut to work one day less per week.

However, those numbers vary greatly by country, as 50 per cent of workers in Mexico, 43 per cent in India and 42 per cent in France would take that arrangement compared with only 29 per cent in Canada and 24 per cent in the US. It also revealed that even though 75 per cent of full-time employees globally said they have enough time in the workday to finish their major tasks, nearly two in five (37 per cent) work more than 40 hours each week and 71 per cent claim work interferes with their personal lives.

However, full-time employees in Australia (37 per cent) and the UK (34 per cent) felt strongest that they do not have enough time in the day to get the job done, yet they do not work the most hours, it said. The US leads the way with overtime, as 49 per cent clock more than 40 hours each week, followed by India (44 per cent), Mexico (40 per cent) and Germany (38 per cent), it added.

"It's clear that employees want to work and do well by their employers, and many roles require people to be present or on call during specific hours to get the job done such as teachers, nurses, retail associates, plant workers, delivery drivers, and nearly all customer-facing roles," executive director of The Workforce Institute at Kronos, Joyce Maroney said.

She said organisations must help their people eliminate distractions, inefficiencies and administrative work to enable them to work at full capacity.

"This will create more time to innovate, collaborate, develop skills and relationships and serve customers while opening the door to creative scheduling options, including the coveted four-day workweek," she added.